Chapter 27: Chapter Twenty-Five

“Heaven knows,” she said sternly.

“I can wait outside…”

“It’s pouring rain outside.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does matter—if you catch pneumonia from getting soaked!” Tong Yiwen caught sight of her cousin’s figure beneath an umbrella: Bai Ziling looked fragile, defenseless. “Don’t bother Ziling—I’m warning you.”

“I…”

“Di Zhiwei!” Bai Ziling tucked away her umbrella; seeing his profile, she couldn’t help exclaiming—had he come too?

Di Zhiwei immediately walked toward her, relieved—he had never met a woman as terrifying, as dreadful, as utterly unfeminine as Bai Ziling’s cousin; he actually wanted to run away or snap to attention.

“Are you wet?” he asked at once, deeply concerned.

“Who told you?”

“Jiang Jie. Unbelievable, right?”

“You made this trip for nothing.” Bai Ziling put her umbrella in the rack; with her cousin beside her, she felt utterly safe. “Go back soon—otherwise, the mountain road will be dangerous in the dark with heavy rain.”

“How long can you hide here, Bai Ziling?”

“As long as I can.”

“Your coffee shop will go under!”

“Jiang Jie paid for the coffee shop—if it fails…” Bai Ziling had truly let go. “Then I have no ties to him at all.”

“You’re stupid!”

“Di Zhiwei, don’t bother me anymore.”

Di Zhiwei, who had been about to say more, suddenly heard someone clear their throat—he knew it was Bai Ziling’s cousin. He pulled Bai Ziling to the director’s office door; though rain splashed on them, it was better than being stared at by that woman—he was terrified of her.

“Di Zhiwei, we have nothing to say!” Bai Ziling watched the large raindrops like pearls. “With Jiang Jie, it’s the same as with you—you’re both wasting your time.”

“Bai Ziling, I really have no chance at all…” Di Zhiwei was ready to give up; though disappointed and helpless, he knew love couldn’t be forced.

“How many times do I have to say it?”

“What if it’s a fake marriage…” he ventured, “I still haven’t gotten my grandfather’s five hundred million.”

“Your uncle will kill both of you cousins—even if you’re just trying to scam money, you should find a ‘new face.’” Bai Ziling laughed. “Di Zhiwei, you’re not as smart as I thought!”

“Love makes people stupid,” Di Zhiwei teased her.

“There’s no love between us.”

“What about friendship?” he asked seriously.

“Friendship…” Bai Ziling looked at him. “Fine. I can accept your friendship. We’d be better off as friends.”

“Sigh…” Di Zhiwei sighed heavily, half-amused. “I thought braving this downpour to come up the mountain would move you, make you understand my sincerity—but it seems… everything I do is pointless.”

“Not pointless—you gained a friend.” She smiled and patted him.

“I’ve never lost before, Bai Ziling—it’s all your fault!”

“No one can be a winner forever.”

【Chapter Ten】

Rain had fallen for days in the mountains, and Bai Ziling’s mood grew increasingly uncontrollable; she couldn’t even pick up knitting needles to weave a sweater—she found even the balls of yarn irritating.

Tong Yiwen, standing by the window watching the rain, suddenly turned to Bai Ziling, her expression calm and encouraging.

“He’s here again.”

“Di Zhiwei?”

“Not Di Zhiwei.”

Bai Ziling rushed to the window—it was Jiang Jie’s Porsche. Despite the relentless rain, he had come up the mountain again. She couldn’t name the bittersweet mix in her heart—she could only watch his car and him through the glass, her emotions tangled.

“Go,” Tong Yiwen said gently.

Bai Ziling stubbornly replied, “There’s nothing to say.”

“At least tell him to go down the mountain.”

“He has the freedom to do what he wants.”

“Ziling, you clearly want to see him,” Tong Yiwen smiled. “I’m an outsider, but I see clearly—your feelings for him are nothing like your feelings for Di Zhiwei. He won’t just be a ‘friend.’”

Bai Ziling thought for three seconds, stepped away from the window, opened the front door, and ran into the rain without an umbrella—straight toward his car. Jiang Jie reacted instantly: he got out and opened the passenger door for her, then quickly got in himself.

“Let me make one thing clear—I’m not coming back with you,” Bai Ziling wiped raindrops from her hair and body.

“You’re soaked.” He answered without addressing her words.

“So what?”

“You only came out to tell me that?” Jiang Jie turned on the car’s heater, afraid she’d catch cold from the rain.

“I won’t leave here for now. I hope you stop coming—don’t make trouble for my cousin.”

“I just want to talk, then I’ll leave.” He seemed about to tell her something. “Ziling, I don’t want to keep clinging either—you’re annoyed, and I’m not happy either.”

“Talk about what?”

“I once planned to marry a wealthy heiress. To everyone, we were a flawless pair. But the night before we were to set the wedding date, she suddenly went to the registry office and got married.” Jiang Jie spoke of it now with casual detachment.

“Not with you?” Bai Ziling asked needlessly.

“Her groom was an orphan who made a living selling paintings, with a dream of opening an orphanage.”

“Ah?!” Bai Ziling was startled.

“They did open one—it’s small and modest, but they’re focused on that goal, working hard and deeply in love, building it together.” Jiang Jie smiled unconsciously.

“This story could be in Reader’s Digest.” Bai Ziling had read many such stories in that magazine.

“She said it was all for love,” Jiang Jie said, looking at her.

“She loved that painter…” Bai Ziling understood. “So… she could endure any hardship, any suffering.”

“Do you think she’s foolish?” he asked, tilting his head.

“From a worldly perspective…”

“She said she had no regrets about her choice.”

“So you were heartbroken?” she asked bitterly. “You thought she’d cry and crawl back, begging you for another chance?”

“No! I just stopped understanding women. I used to think I did—but later… I only slept with women, had sex with them. I demanded they tell me clearly what they wanted. If they could give it, I wouldn’t shake my head. If they couldn’t, I was sorry.” Jiang Jie opened his heart.

Bai Ziling chewed over his words.

“I no longer want to understand what women think. I won’t let myself suffer like this again.”

“Not every woman…”

“Ziling, you all say you want simple lives—would living with me make your life any less simple?”

“Have you ever considered that I don’t know what you’re thinking?” Bai Ziling spoke to him calmly, as if for the first time. “What kind of life do you want? What kind of woman?”

Jiang Jie pondered her words.

“I have no idea what you want either!”

“Ziling, what do you want? A Jin Guixu?”

“I used to think so—I wanted to be like Xia Zhen, Weiwei, and Xingchen. I wanted to buy anything I liked, own whatever I wanted. But now…” Bai Ziling looked out the window at the rain.

“I just want a man who loves me.”

“Don’t you think love is an illusion?” Jiang Jie had never said “I love you” to any woman—not even his mother.

“You think it’s an illusion?” She looked at him, slightly disappointed.

“It’s just a tool romance novels use to cheat people out of money.”

“Jiang Jie, do you still believe that?”

“How many men truly mean ‘I love you’ when they say it?!” he sneered.